Pouring device for glass furnaces



A. H. CARPENTER ET AL POURING DEVICE FOR GLASS FURNACES May 31, 1927.

Filed D60. 10. 1925 "3 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 31, 1927.

A. H. CARPENTER .ET AL POURING DEVICE FOR cuss FURNACES Filed Dec. 10. 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 31, 1927. 1,630,829

A. H. CARPENTER 1 AL POURING DEVICE FOR GLASS FURNACES Filed Dec. 10. 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented 1927.

ARTHUR nown paarnnrnn, Oir' LA amen, mn'rnnarr c.--nun',rm,or n =1 1:.

sum, rumors, nssren'ons T r'nnvrraonrn comrm, WEST vxnemra, A conronarron or wns'r vme.

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' rouimre nnvrcn son as summons-1f Application filed December 10,, 1925'. s am. 7am. I

The object of the present invention is to permit the deliver of 'molten glass directly to a casting table or the like directly 'from' the furnace, without theintervention-of a 6' ladle or similar means.

In carrying out our invention we provide the furnace with a pouring spout of comparatively large cross section, the flow of molten glass from the spout being controlled by a'valve' or gate. If a simple spout and gate were employed, it would be'impossible to pour successfully, asthe glass would c-l'og the gate. Viewed in one of'its aspects,.our invention may be said to have-for it's'ob 'ject to produce a simpleand novel valved or gated pour-ingspout for a. glass furnace which will be self-cleaning and insure a normal flow of normal material whenever the valve is opened.) Wehave found that by utilizing a slide valve to extend across and cover theout-let end of the spout, andcoolin the valve by causing water. to flow throug ,the same, or otherwise, the glass directly: above the same will form a more or less solidified layer lying just within the mouth of the spout, so that when the valve is o 'ened, this layer will scrape off and leave t e surface of the valve clean. Therefore the valve may be opened and shut to meet the demand, without impairment in efliciency of operation and control. Since the cooling action of the valve tends to continue upwardly through the molten glass in the spout or discharge passage, means mustbe provided for pre-. venting the cooling of the" glass except that I directly in contact with the valve. .We-

f therefore provide heating means for" the lower end of the spout, which means may in coils or resistance elements embedded within the walls of the spout and surroundconveniently take the form of electrical heat-- spout is arranged so that the center of the outlet. is removedfar to one side {of the" as Y center of the upper portions .Our invention 1n one of its aspects, may therefore be regarded as having for its objeotto produce a simple and novel pouringspout, the pass- I sage through which is approximately vertical, but so arranged that it is impossibleior a hollow to form at the core of the mass. of molten glass in 'the spout, as, the glass flows down. The'various features of novelty whereby our invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in theclaims; but, for a full understanding-of our invention and of its objects and ad'-' vantages, 'reference may .be had to the fol- 7c lowing detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein; Figure 1 is a front view of so much of a glass furnace-and a casting table'as isnec- 'essary to illustrate the present invention, showing one. form of pouringspout; Fig. 2 is a verticalitransverse section,-on a larger scale than Fig. 1, showing the spout and the valve; Fig. 3 is a vertic'alsection, taken at rightangles to theplane of Fig; 2;Fig.

.4 is a view similar to 3, showing a difierent form of. valve; Flg. '5 is a horizontal sec'tion through the valve shown in Fig. 4;,.and Fig.- 6 is a view similar to Figs.

2, 3 and 4, showing still another form of spout and valve. -;Figs. 7, 8 and 9 show various forms of sleeves which may-be used in correspondin forms of .flow spouts.

Referring to ig's, 1-3 of the drawings, 1 representsa chamber at one side of thes main furnace chamber (not shown), from which main chamber "the molten. glass flows'into the chamber 1. In the bottom of the chamher 1 is a somewhat-elongated vertical dis-. charge passage constituting the spout. The lower portion of the spout is preferably formed in a casting *having a fiat portion 3' .forming the bottom of the lower chamber walL. A valve 4 in the form of athick plate,

lying flat against theunder faced the casting, serves to control the flow of glass, or completely to check such flow, from the spout. This valve rests detachably in seats 5 in the upper edges of two transverse horizontal bars6 and 7. These bars may be connected together to form. a frame, by

- at. their ends. This means of rods 8 and 9lextending beween them ame is suspended from two cables 10, 10 at oppositeends there- 2 suitable -manner.

- 'ion maybe fixed to or "mounted torotate' with a gear wheel 16' which is in turn rotated--- of, passin' -upwardly, over pulleys 11, 11 and rovi ed at theirjfree ends with counterw'eig ts 12.- ,These counterweights yieldingily hold the valve against its seat. In

a rack 14 that isengaged by a driving pin ion' 15 rotatable in any suitable manner. If the valve is to be operated by hand, the pinby a pinion. 17 operated by a suitable crank -Withi n the walls of the chamber, surrounding the spout, are heating elements,

such as electrical heating coils 19. The

valve -is provided with passages 20 through whicha cooling medium may be passed.

' As shown in Fig. 3, the spout is arranged at an angle to the vertical when viewed from i the side; the inclination being such that a.

vertical line drawn tangent to that side of the spout that overlies the mouth ofv the latter, cuts the plane of the mouth near be hollow at the core; but, by incliningl spout, the descendin glass at the right the lower end of the opposite-wall. If the -central axis of the spout were vertical, the descending column of molten glass thatflows down when the valve is opened miglllit t e and side of the upper en ofthespout, as viewed in Fig. 3, is moving in a direction to fill any hollow which mayliave started, so that the column will always be solid in the "plane of the outlet end of the spout. I

If desired, there may be an annular chamber 25 surrounding the chamber 1; and this additional chamber may contain heatingmeans for heating the-entire contents of the chamber as, for example, pipes'26.

In the arrangement shown in Figs.-'4 and 5, the chamber ,31 is similar'to the corresponding parts in Figs. 1-3, but the spout and the valve are different. The spout, in-

' dicated at 32, is vertical. The bottom casting '33 has twoparallel guide ledges 34, 34- fastened thereto at opposite sides of the lower end of the'spout. The valve 35 has flanges 36- interlocked 'with these guide ledges, whereby thevalve isheld against the bottomcasting and is permitted-to slide along the same. The construction of the valve is best shown in Fig. 5. It will be seen that the interior. of the valve is hollow.

In what may' be designated the front end, is an inlet opening 37 and an outlet openm 38 Between these openings is a partitlon 39 extending from the front wall about half-way toward the-rear. The rear halfof the chamber in the .valve contains a pluralit of concentric arc-shaped ribs 40 that divi e the'rear portion of the chamber into a series of curved channels one end of each of which-is on one SldQOf the partition 39 and the other end of each of which is on the opposite side .of that partition. 'Therefore a stream of water entering the inlet 37 is divided into a plurality of streams before it reaches the outlet, so that the entire work- 111 face of the valve is cooled.

. Tn Fig." 6 the chamber 41 is similar to the chambers 1 and 31, and the spout 42 is similar to thespout 2. However, the lower end of the spout is cut off so that the plane of the outlet end is approximately at right angles to the central longitudinal axis of the spout. The valve 44 is therefore arranged at an angle to the vertical. It is shown as carried by a bracket 45 adapted to be moved by a rod 46 so as to slide the valve along the bottom casting 47 The valve is held againstits seat by a bell crank lever 47, one arm of which is connected to the bracket 45 by a link 48, while the other armcarries a heavy counterweight 49. This counterwelght mechanism presses the valve against its seat at all times, but permits it to slide back and forth to open and close the outlet end of the spout.

In each of the forms of our invention, it will be seen that there is a short, a proximately verticaldischarge-passage 0 large cross-sectional area so that the molten glass may be discharged freely.' Furthermore, each valve slides on the smooth face of the cast ng forming the bottom of the lower wall' of the furnace chamber, so that the partlally congealed layer or film of glass that rests on the valve Whenthe latter is closed, will be cleanly scraped from the working face of the valve and will be remelted as 1t is carried down with the molten glass flowing down to the castin table. In each form, also, the lower end 0 the column of molten glass in the spoutor outlet passage 1S sup lied with external heat, so that all of the g ass in the spout, except the thin layer in contact with the valve, remains ina fluid state; and-\consequently there is sufiic'ient heat energy contained in the column of molten glass in the spout to insure the reliquifying of the small quantity of partially- 7 section, difl'erent shapes cross-sectional area of the spout, this opening bein surrounded. by a wall 51. A sleeve 52 lies in the space surrounded by said wall, forming therewith an annular chamber in which the heating element 19 is housed. The sleeve 52 may be made of a'special steel or other material adapted to resist the action of the molten glass. The sleeve may have a flan e 53 resting on the upper edge of the wal 51 and lugs 54 to space it apart from the inner sides of the wall.- The heating element may be made up as a ring of fire clay or the like, containing resistance coils, the ring being of a size to adapt it to be slipped up from the bottom into the annular space surrounding the sleeve.

The spout may be of an eing desirable under different conditions. Thus the shape may be round, as indicated in Fig. 7 or square with rounded corners as 52 in Fig. 8, or rectangular, with rounded corners, as 52" in-Fig. 9. v

While we-have illustrated and described with particularity only a few simple forms of our invention, we do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which desired. crosscome within the definitions of our invention constituting the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A glass furnace chamber having a short downwardly extending spout of comparatively large cross-sectional area, one side of the spout being inclined and the opposite side, at the upper end of the spout, extends ing inwardly to a'vertical plane not far distant from the lower end of the first-mentioned side.

2. A glass furnace chamber having a short downwardly-extending spout of comparatively large cross-sectional area, one side of the spout being inclinedand the opposite side overhangin the outlet end-of the spout.

"3. A glass Furnace chamber havin a spout for discharging molten glass, a s ide valve movable across the outlet end of the spout between a posit-ion in which it closes said end of the spout and a second position in which it lies at one side of the spout, and a counterweight tending constantly to move said slide'valve into the first-namedposition. I

.Intestimony whereof, we sign thisspecification.

ARTHUR HOWE CARPENTER. PHILIP C. HUNTLEY. 

